Frequency Analysis of Personality Development in Malaysian Engineering Students Influenced by German Sojourn

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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 102 ( 2013 ) 55 – 63

Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Professor Dr Mohd. Zaidi Omar, Associate Professor Dr Ruhizan Mohammad Yasin, Dr Roszilah Hamid, Dr Norngainy Mohd. Tawil, Associate Professor Dr Wan Kamal Mujani, Associate Professor Dr Effandi Zakaria. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.713

ScienceDirect

6th International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE 2012)

Frequency Analysis of Personality Development in Malaysian

Engineering Students Influenced by German Sojourn

Mohd Najib Redzuan Lee

a

, Andanastuti Muchtar

a *

, Shahrum Abdullah

a

, Khairul

Anwar Mastor

b

, Axel Hunger

c

a_{Centre for Engineering Education Research, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment,Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM}

Bangi, Selangor,MALAYSIA

b_{Centre for General Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor,MALAYSIA} c_{University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, GERMANY}

Abstract

The required personality sets of engineering graduates are always associated with the needs of the working market. These personality sets could be gained and moulded by the engineering graduates based on the academic landscape, curricular activities, and the social environment to which the students are exposed. With the establishment of the double-degree programme between the National University of Malaysia (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM) and the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE, Germany), there is interest to compare the personality outcome acquired by the UKM students who participated in the double-degree programme (UKM-UDE) to the students who chose to continue their education to completion in UKM. Hence, this study aims to compare both groups of students in a frequency method using the Big Five Inventory (BFI) survey. Graphically analysed BFI data collected from filled questionnaires by the students displays the scores

agreeableness

development in the UKM engineering students exhibits an increase in scoring of extraversion domain while showing small changes on other domain scores such as agreeableness, openness and conscientiousness. This resulted from the purely UKM study environment (i.e., curricular activities, academic landscape, and social environment). On the other hand, the frequency analysis of personality development in the UKM-UDE students displays an increase in openness domain although with slight decrease in the agreeableness domain. Such personality development is presumably due to exposure of the international study environment in UDE, Germany. The results from both sets of student samples are compared and discussed.

Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Mohd Zaidi Omar, Ruhizan Mohammad Yasin, Roszilah Hamid, Norngainy Mohd. Tawil, Kamaruzaman Yusoff, Mohamad Sattar Rasul

* Corresponding Author. Tel.: +6-019-272-7190

E-mail address: [email protected]

Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Professor Dr Mohd. Zaidi Omar, Associate Professor Dr Ruhizan Mohammad Yasin, Dr Roszilah Hamid, Dr Norngainy Mohd. Tawil, Associate Professor Dr Wan Kamal Mujani, Associate Professor Dr Effandi Zakaria.

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Keywords: personality; double degree; engineering education; Big Five Inventory; descriptive

1. Introduction

v

Thus, how well an engineer should perform is crucial. Given that many nations have drawn closer to be dependent on one another, the ability of an engineer now extends to performing well internationally.

The current market expects engineers to be reliable in working with foreigners, to work as a team, and to communicate and share ideas among others. The traditional method of learning seems insufficient because prospective engineers need to gain basic international communication skills before joining the work force. This demand for ability among engineers has influenced the way engineers are trained in the academe. Educational institutions comply with the market demand by improving and enhancing the current curricula [1].

One of the most common methods in enhancing students with international exposure is the establishment of a double degree programme. The programme is alluring; the participants will benefit international experience with a lesser cost and in shorter period of stay in an international study environment. The National University of Malaysia (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM) and the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), Germany established a double degree programme to address the need for such an international exposure. Both well-respected universities from Malaysia and Germany collaborated to provide foreign experience to the undergraduates of both universities [2-3].

In 2003, the first UKM-UDE double degree batch was sent to Germany to complete their study. Aside from

degree upon completion. Since then, the number of students who enrolled in the programme has increased, with nine batches of UKM-UDE undergraduates have arrived in Germany and studied in UDE [2-3]. Thus, in 2009, a funded project was awarded to investigate the influence of the programme on the participants [2-3].

A total of 112 students have flown to Germany through the UKM-UDE programme (as of October 2012). The students who enrol with the programme are from the mechanical, civil and electrical engineering disciplines. The double degree programme involves a learning experience in Germany for about 18 months. The UKM-UDE has made the learning of basic German language necessary for all undergraduates of the double degree programme. Participation in language class helps in the coping process when studying in Germany starts.

However, despite the preparation provided for the UKM-UDE students to weather the UDE learning environment, there is a concern that the challengers in Germany may be too overwhelming. Narjes Mehdizadeh and Gill Scott highlighted this concern in a study of personality adjustment of a group of Iranian students in Scotland. They found that the sojourners living in a leaning environment that has great cultural differences might cause the manifestation of high level of anxiety and nervousness [4]. Similarly, there is interest to understand how the UKM students are affected by their sojourn in Germany. There has never been a study conducted in a longitudinal manner in order to investigate the influence of the UKM-UDE double degree programme since its first operation in 2003. Therefore, to address this concern, this research intends to investigate the influence of the German learning settings towards the UKM-UDE double degree students. The frequency analysis is applied on data collection for both longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis of the students.

2.Samples

The present study considers two samples of third-year engineering students batch of year 2009/2010. The samples are UKM-Bangi students (n = 264) and UKM-UDE students (n = 24). The UKM-Bangi students assume their role as full time students in UKM until they complete their studies, whereas the UKM-UDE students

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experience both UKM and UDE learning exposure in order to complete their engineering degree. At the time of data collection, both student samples were third-year engineering undergraduates aged 23 to 25 years old.

Students were asked to fill out a series of Likert scale questionnaires (

as an approach to record the progress of the personality development of both samples. Scores collected from the questionnaire distinguish the effect of different learning exposures. The questionnaire used in this survey records the personality dimensions of both samples.

The first data collection was done in September 2009, where both the student samples were still on UKM campus. From then on, a regular data collection was conducted from time to time in order to record the progress of both samples until the end of their academic semesters. As this paper intends to investigate the influence of the German environment towards the students of the double degree programme, personality scores from early data collection as well final collection for each sample are presented in relative frequency. Since the respondents for the UKM-UDE students were less than 30 (n = 24), the theoretical-based statistical analysis cannot be carried out as it will give inaccurate results.

3.Preliminary Assumptions 3.1.Personality Change

The double degree programme enables the students to learn the ability to engage with people of different international backgrounds. It is aimed to provide learning exposure that exceeds the conventional learning process such as that experienced when studying fully in only one institution.

This study assumes that the double degree students face the most challenging point of the adapting process at the early period of stay in Germany. Additionally, the study also assumes that personality change may occur however stabilise over time [2-3] The UKM-Bangi students attend their final year of undergraduate study as usual. Nevertheless, the study assumes that the UKM-Bangi students may experience a slight change in personality score because of the stressful environment surrounding the final year of studies. Thus, comparable analyses are conducted to investigate the different personality scores between the two samples.

3.2 Different Curricular in Engineering Education

Students of the double degree programme participate in preparation classes before they depart for UDE. Classes on German language and cultural competency are compulsory, as the students are expected to acquire both language and basic knowledge of culture in order to adapt better to the German environment. This study assumes that personality adjustment may be implied due to the need of the double degree students to manifest blending in behavioural pattern in their attempt to adapt to the German environment.

The present study also assumes that the UKM-Bangi students manage their final-year study in a familiar environment that may not require any routine changes. However, this experience is different to that faced by the UKM-UDE students. The UKM- German physical and cultural environment may give rise to unfamiliar emotions. Adapting and assimilating to such experiences can help the UKM-UDE students to become independent and highly motivated to take on challenges.

3.3 Foreign Environment

Germany possesses environment attributes different from those of Malaysia because of many reasons, one of which is due to their longitudinal and latitudinal positionings on Earth. Malaysia experiences sunny and rainy seasons all year round, whereas Germany has four seasons. The present study considers that adapting to a climate

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change in environment requires some degree of adjustment in both morale and mood. With regard to time, the UKM-UDE students experience six hours of time difference that force them to change from their usual Malaysian time lifestyle. In addition to that, Germany is a four seasonal country where each season poses a different daylight time. The UKM-UDE students must address such changes while studying in UDE.

As the study programme has been running for the past few years, the 2009 2010 UKM-UDE engineering undergraduates have their seniors and friends on whom to rely. Although the new students can depend on their seniors for assistance, they must survive independently if they want to succeed in their studies, causing a creative adjustment to the personality dimension. The students can creatively apply changes that suit their Malaysian norm and their newly encountered German norm.

3.4 Language Disability

onment, the UKM-UDE students must possess the ability to communicate well in both English and German. Although basic German language classes have been taught in the early stages of the programme, language learning differs from one participant to another. Only those who have successfully mastered the language stand a better chance in understanding their lessons and the German culture. In time, all UKM-UDE students may be able to master the German language.

The UKM-UDE students may need to use the German language from their first day in Germany. Lifestyle adaptation, attending to classes, completing study requirements, and other activities require the double degree students to master the German language, which may cause stress [2-3].

4.Instruments

4.1The Big Five Model (BFM)

The present study assessed the personality dimension of the double degree students using the Big Five Model (BFM). The BFM was used in this study because of its established credibility in researching the dimension of personality. Lew Goldberg first introduced the use of the Big Five taxonomy traits in a study he was researching in 1976 [5]. Later these traits have been simplified into compartmentalised dimensions in order to ease the process of analysing personality using statistical methods.

The BFM identifies the five recurrent factors in analysing the personality dimensions. These five recurrent factors are also known as the five domains of personality, namely, openness (O), conscientiousness (C),

extraversion (E), agreeableness (A), and neuroticism (N). These five domains of personality may be

compartmentalise the assessment of personality dimension.

The application of the BFM has spread widely in the research on personality development assessment. For a time, personality researchers simplified the items of assessment in the BFM in the hopes of effectively managing the applications of the assessment questionnaire. Both Robert R. McCrae and Paul T. Costa suggested that assessing personality using the five attributes of personality domains can be related to the time of personality development [6].

The BFM type of questionnaire fits the objective of this study, which is to evaluate and assess the personality development of UKM-UDE students with respect to their experienced event. The increasing or decreasing of each assessment of personality scoring can be associated with the occurring events at the time of collection.

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4.1.1.Five Dimension Personality Domains

The literature classifies the N domain as the personality that is easily distressed. It is characterised by instability of emotions. An increased score in N combines the attitude of being unable to manage stress and nervousness. Nevertheless, a low score in the N domain indicates the capability to manage nervousness and stress, and to be calm and relaxed.

The domain of A is scored based on the personality dimension of helpfulness, trustworthiness, kindness, and affection. The attribute of trustworthiness and the ability to cooperate with other people indicate a person with a high score in the A domain. A low score in the A domain indicates a person who is rudeness and irritable. The E domain reflects the attribute of talkativeness and optimism, which makes a person with a low E score exhibit conventional characteristics and an introvert behavior.

A high score in the C domain exhibits the features of thoughtfulness, organisation, and motivation. A person with a low score in the C domain reflects the attitudes of carelessness and unreliability, and a lack of motivation. The O domain indicates the personality features of tolerance in novelty and exposure. A low score in the O domain shows the features of less tolerance in novelty and exposure [7].

4.2 The Big Five Inventory (BFI)

The Big Five Inventory (BFI) is a Likert scale questionnaire consisting of 44 items on the personality dimension (i.e. item (1) is talkative and item (2) tends to find the fault of others). Each item is related to the BFM personality dimension, which represents the OCEAN domains. The BFI is one of the most simplified versions of the BFM assessment tools. It was established in 1991 by a team of personality researchers of the University of California. Their intention in constructing a simplified version of the BFM model was to enable researchers to use the questionnaire with ease. Aside from being capable of analysing the personality dimension, the BFI does not discard the psychometric feature content [8].

The effectiveness of the BFI can be related to a reliability alpha parameter, which should be in the range of 0.75 to 0.90, with an average of 0.80. The value 0.75 to 0.9 is important in order to maintain the quality of consistency of the BFI. The average scoring of 0.80 shows that the questionnaire has a high degree of consistency [9].

4.3 Descriptive Method

The scores on the BFI items are descriptively analysed to investigate the difference between the UKM-UDE and the UKM-Bangi students. Each of the personality domains are summed by the total scores of the frequency marks of the items. This relative frequency score are then changed into percentage bar forms.

in neuroticism can be regarded as a problem if the symptom persists and the scoring increases further. Nevertheless, some personality researchers have concluded that a moderate degree of neuroticism scoring is common when individuals strive to improve themselves [10].

5.Results and Discussions

As mentioned in the previous sections, the UKM-UDE students are assumed to engage in an international physical and cultural environment in UDE. The different environment is one of the many features the double degree programme provides for its participants.

Figure 1 shows the personality scores of the UKM-UDE students before going to UDE. Each personality domain of the UKM-UDE students is presented as percentage bars. As can be seen in Figure 1, the y-axis

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represents the personality domain of the BFI, while the x-axis represents the relative frequency (in percentage) of

questionnaire items.

Figure 1.

UKM-At the time of the data collection, the double degree students were at the stages where they were preparing to go to UDE. They have attended classes for both German language and culture. The frequency percentage of UKM-UDE samples was then compared to the UKM-Bangi students (Figure 2). It was apparent that there exists a similar pattern in the percentage bars of Figure 1 to that of the UKM-Bangi students (Figure 2). Upon comparison between the results from the UKM-UDE and UKM-Bangi samples, it is found that at the beginning of data collection, both samples appear to possess a similar personality dimension.

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UKM-Figure 3 and 4 show the personality dimensions of both samples at the final semester of their study programme. As mentioned in the previous sections (section 1-3), the UKM-Bangi students will complete their study programme only in the UKM learning environment, whereas the UKM-UDE students will do so in Germany. A cross-sectional investigation of the relative frequency of UKM-UDE and UKM-Bangi was conducted with the purpose to evaluate the effects of the two types of learning experience towards the personality of the two sets of UKM students.

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

UKM-The different patterns in both Figure 3 and 4 suggest that the learning settings seem to affect both the personality of the UDE and

UDE students have changed since September 2009 (Figure 1), while Figure 4 indicates that the UKM-Bangi samples have similar patterns of personality dimension percentage since September 2009 (Figure 2). This shows that longitudinal frequency analysis of the UKM-Bangi students personality scores did not change since the first data collection.

Many reasons (i.e. good social support from familiar surroundings and ability to cope with final semester stress) may contribute to the similar patterns of the frequency personality scores for the UKM-Bangi samples. The study assumes that the learning settings of UKM-Bangi students do not require change in personality development throughout their study programme in UKM. This factor may be used to explain the cause of stable pattern of personality score in the longitudinal evaluation of Figures 2 and 4.

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However, the longitudinal analysis of two frequencies result (Figure 1 and 3) show that the UKM-UDE students exhibit some changes in their personality dimension due to changes in their learning environment. In the

the A domain (Figure 3) also decrease since the first data collection. This result may be

learning exposure that enables the double degree students to be more individualistic and to have their own opinion.

The openness

-UDE students have benefitted from the exposure of an international environment by broadening their tolerance perception towards new things and changes. The E domain (Figure 3) shows a decreased fr

focused on completing their assignments and preparing for their final examinations was crucial at the time of data collection.

Despite the decrease in scores in some of the personality dimensions (Figure 3), the UKM-UDE students manage to cope with the challenges in UDE without showing an excessive degree of neuroticism (Figure 3) where 80% of

Iranian sojourners who studied in Scotland. The finding of the study shows that the Iranian students who stayed in Scotland for more than three years display a high level of anxiety and nervousness throughout their sojourner years in Scotland [4]. The UKM-UDE students however, do not exhibit the same level of nervousness possibly due to their shorter stay in Germany.

In addition to the impact analyses of the double degree students personality score, this study has also presented statistical analysis using frequency statistic to compare Likert scale scores of both UKM-UDE and UKM-Bangi samples. Statistical frequency comparison was also done in a longitudinal manner where data of early personality

frequency analysis of statistical data could be used to determine the influence of Germany learning settings by comparing the frequency of both samples cross-sectionally (between UKM-UDE samples and UKM-Bangi samples) and longitudinally (data of UDE samples in September 2009 and March 2011 and data of UKM-Bangi samples in September 2009 and March 2010).

6.Conclusions

The results of this study present the effects of different studying environments on students using relative frequency method. Next, the relative frequency scores is then presented in percentage bars in order to simplify the personality analyses process. As a result, the study finds that the UKM learning settings may have enabled the UKM-Bangi students to study without causing change in their personality dimension. However, the UDE learning exposure such as the learning in UDE study environment and the engagement with people of different cultures as well as the challenges that come with moving to a foreign country may have caused the UKM-UDE sample to exhibit small changes in their personality domain scores. The change in personality dimensions from Septe -UDE students are; Conscientiousness

changed by an increase of 4%, Agreeableness decreased by 1%, Openness increased by 10%, Extraversion

improved by an increase of 14% and Neuroticism changed by an increase of 7%. The use of frequency analysis to analyse both samples of UKM engineering students longitudinally and cross-sectionally is found to be appropriate in validating the assumptions that the UKM-UDE students have developed valuable personality traits due to their German exposure.

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The authors would like to acknowledge Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) for research sponsorship under grant PTS-2011-157 and PTS-2011-152.

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